To protestant converts:

[Kouyate42]

Welcome home, Kouyate! Your last statement was the clincher for me, as well. As a Pentecostalist I was taught that everything had to be explicitly taught in the Bible, and yet, we had practices and beliefs that weren’t stated anywhere in Scripture. It was when I understood that the Bible is the witness to the New Covenant in Christ and not a proof text that I was forever free of scouring verses to try to come up with ways to refute the Church–as pointless an exercise as anyone could undertake, as I now look back on it.

Thank you!

Yeah, I was sitting in my old church thinking ‘where’s the Bible verses to support this?’. I often heard in my church ‘the Bible is the structure on which our faith is built’ but then I often wondered where the Biblical support was for some of the things my church did, and I often felt spiritually ‘empty’ as a result.

Then I read about Catholicism and it was a case of ‘we do this practice as supported by the Bible passage XYZ and explained by this traditional history/Church Father’s wiritings/this Vatican mandate’.

 

[h00sha]

For me it started with the heart - Dec 2007, entered a Catholic church for the first time in my life for Christmas Eve mass. My wife was raised Catholic and told me it was nice, so we went. We had already been married 11 yrs, but we were involved in Evangelical, non-denominational churches for all of that time. She had no interest in returning full time (and still doesn’t) to the Catholic church but still appreciates it from time to time.

I witnessed the Christmas eve mass and sensed the presence of Jesus. This shocked me because I was always taught that the Catholic church was a worldy organization of men. It had strayed from the truth, but here was the Truth just as I’d always known Him, only more simply, more purely staring me smack in the face. I knew that I needed to participate in Holy Communion. I wanted more of Jesus!! After that, I stopped taking communion at my local church until I could figure things out for myself. (We used to take communion maybe once a month or so - bread and grape juice as a representation of the Lord, the Pentecostal way). This is when the intellectual side came in to convince me:

• • “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” 'Nuff said! How could we evangelicals whitewash this verse by saying the Catholic dogma of the Eucharist is wrong?
• • “This is the church of the living God, which is the pillar and foundation of the truth.” 1 Timothy 3:15. You mean the Bible is not the foundation of the truth? I guess these Catholics really are onto something.
• • The verifiable, historical, apostolic nature of the Church.

That was enough to get me started in RCIA the following year. I still wasn’t sure about Mary and the Saints, but I started praying the Rosary anyway because I figured that if the Catholics were right about these major issues, then they’re probably right about this too. We evangelicals were forever drawing parallels between the old and new testaments, so how we gloss over Mary as the new Eve is a complete mystery to me. Her ‘yes’ brought God into the world!!

I still have a bit of a protestant streak in me, but that’s for another thread…

 

[Della]

For me it started with the heart - Dec 2007, entered a Catholic church for the first time in my life for Christmas Eve mass. My wife was raised Catholic and told me it was nice, so we went. We had already been married 11 yrs, but we were involved in Evangelical, non-denominational churches for all of that time. She had no interest in returning full time (and still doesn’t) to the Catholic church but still appreciates it from time to time.

I witnessed the Christmas eve mass and sensed the presence of Jesus. This shocked me because I was always taught that the Catholic church was a worldy organization of men. It had strayed from the truth, but here was the Truth just as I’d always known Him, only more simply, more purely staring me smack in the face. I knew that I needed to participate in Holy Communion. I wanted more of Jesus!! After that, I stopped taking communion at my local church until I could figure things out for myself. (We used to take communion maybe once a month or so - bread and grape juice as a representation of the Lord, the Pentecostal way). This is when the intellectual side came in to convince me:

• • “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” 'Nuff said! How could we evangelicals whitewash this verse by saying the Catholic dogma of the Eucharist is wrong?
• • “This is the church of the living God, which is the pillar and foundation of the truth.” 1 Timothy 3:15. You mean the Bible is not the foundation of the truth? I guess these Catholics really are onto something.
• • The verifiable, historical, apostolic nature of the Church.

That was enough to get me started in RCIA the following year. I still wasn’t sure about Mary and the Saints, but I started praying the Rosary anyway because I figured that if the Catholics were right about these major issues, then they’re probably right about this too. We evangelicals were forever drawing parallels between the old and new testaments, so how we gloss over Mary as the new Eve is a complete mystery to me. Her ‘yes’ brought God into the world!!

I still have a bit of a protestant streak in me, but that’s for another thread…

Just a thought for your wife, if she loves Pentecostal style praise and prayer, you might ask if your parish has a charismatic group. That might help her reintegrate into the Church. I will pray for you both. God bless!

 

[iseekanswers]

Hey there! The first two italicized paragraphs are a bit of background that you can feel free to skip over if you don’t care to read the whole lengthy thing.

*I grew up Protestant, never questioning anything I was taught - but it was the bitterness of the people at my former Baptist church that turned me away from faith initially. I spent all the years of my undergrad either actively despising the idea of religion, or just remaining apathetic to it.

When I felt the call back to God and the church, first through the desire to sing and then actually for God, I did begin asking questions as to what kind of church I should attend. I attended an Episcopal church from August until the end of March (I am a very recent convert). I debated going to the Catholic church around December, primarily based on a tug at my heart that I firmly believe God put there.*

One thing in particular that logically/intellectually drew me to the Church was the Eucharist. When I was very young, I always took of my church’s communion (which involved grape juice) thinking I was eating Jesus’ body and blood, because that’s what the Bible tells us. I was somewhat confused when I was told that we were not LITERALLY eating Jesus’ body and blood - we were just eating a representation of it. Because of that, I grew up with a misunderstanding of this sacrament, assuming that it was just another “thing” we did.

The more I’ve learned about the Eucharist - and its involvement in the church since, well, a church existed - the more I’ve found that the Catholics have this extremely right and how gravely I and my former church were mistaken. And, furthermore, the meaning is somewhat lost in the Eucharist when it is not Jesus’ body and blood - it just becomes a cracker/wafer and wine/grape juice that you partake of once a week (or, in the case of my church growing up, the first Sunday of every month), as opposed to a mystery and force that we partake of as followers of Christ and as members of a Christian community.

I feel really at home in the Catholic church. All of the reasons that I was told not to come to the church when I was younger - and there were many - have either turned out to be complete myths that I disregard or truths I find proof of in the Bible. And, through my own process, everyone on this site has been extremely helpful in answering my questions! As my screenname says - I seek answers (and I’m finding more and more of them!).

 

[marysdaughter1]

You’re awful young to be converting doncha think? I waited until I was 38!
Welcome home trinityleaders.

I’ll offer this prayer up for you:

A Prayer for Catechumens

Father of love and power,
it is your will to establish everything in Christ
and to draw us into his all-embracing love.

Guide these chosen ones:
strengthen them in their vocation,
build them into the kingdom of your Son,
and seal them with the Spirit of your promise.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.​

I’ve got both of you beat - I was 41.

Very nice prayer.

 

[C794]

For me it was discovering that Catholics and Protestants had a different number of books in the Old Testament. I started researching why the deuterocannonicals were removed. Eventually I moved on to different topics (sola fide and sola scriptura) and found that I was agreeing more with the Catholic perspective, so I decided to begin attending mass and get information of RCIA.

 

[drforjc]

1. learning that the earliest Church Fathers wrote and taught doctrines that agree with the Catholic Church on issues that divide Catholics and Protestants.
2. Realizing that the Bible did not identify its own canon and that it could not interpret itself.

 

[franc1sc0]

I was born a Methodist. My Grand Father ( Mom’s dad) was a Pastor. I spent most of my time with this side of my family growing up. While growing up All I heard about Catholics was bad. My dads side were Catholics but really they didn’t practice it. My aunts were nozy and loved gossip. My grandmother and aunts on Mom’s side always had bad comments on Catholics and thats how I grew up anti Catholic.

Move forward many years and I fell in love and married a nice Catholic Girl. They went to Mass every Sunday but were not full practicing members I guess you would say. I we t to Mass, for 10 yrs biting my tongue at some of the things I had grew up not believing in. I was confused to say the least. My uncle who is also a Pastor for the Methodist Church talked to me one day. He knew I was going to the Catholic Church and I had doubts. He told me, that the Catholic Church wasnt ad, and that to just pray and ask God to filter out what is not the truth, and for his guidance. So I prayed and asked for guidance. I really felt empty inside and wanted to be closer to God. I just didn’t know where or how. I asked God one day to show me where I should go and that I would drop all my previous held ideas and follow him. A few days later a Brother from our church asked if they could use our home to hold a “Carpa” An outdoor tent where they would praise the lord for three days and on the fourth have Mass. We agreed and I took it as an answer to my prayers. The people who spoke in the first three days seemed to answer all the doubts I had with out me even asking them. During Mass in my own back yard I felt so blessed, and decided to convert to Catholicism. I am so Happy I did. As of this Saturday I am a true member of the Church!

In reading more about the Catholic Faith, I am just all that more sure I made the right choice.
Praise be to you Lord Jesus!!

 

[Della]

What a beautiful conversion experience, franc1sc0. Welcome home to the Church! :extrahappy:

I too told God I would follow him into any church so long as he would lead me to the true one–even–gulp!–the Catholic Church. I had been in the Assemblies of God for 20 years and had become very anti-Catholic (although I’d been brought up Episcopalian and been baptized and confirmed in the ECA). I too felt spiritually empty even with all the alleuia shouting, etc. that had been the meat of my spirituality for so long. Anyway, God answered all my objections, as well, and here I am. And 20+ years later I’ve never regretted being reconciled with the Church.

 

[franc1sc0]

oops… Posted by mistake…

 

[Balian]

What, intellectually, brought you to Catholicism?

It wasn’t strictly a question of intellectualism for me. The spiritual aspect was just as important in that I felt God drawing me to the Catholic Church. It started for me several years ago when I visited the Vatican, strictly as a tourist. I couldn’t seem to deny the strong feeling of attraction I felt there and I continued thinking about that even when I consciously tried not to. Eventually I began investigating and studying the Catholic faith.

As far as the intellectual aspect, here are the main things that resonated with me;

• The Magisterium the Catechism: My former Protestant denomination had nothing to compare to that as far as written, authoritative teachings,
• The Eucharist and the Real Presence: Once I grasped the concept I easily saw the scriptural basis and understood this was exactly what Christ spoke of and commanded us to observe,
• The Liturgy: I simply love the liturgy. Again, nothing comparable existed in my former Protestant denomination, and
• Confession: Once I studied it and understood the sacrament I understood it was the only way my sins could be forgiven.

Also, there were some difficulties with the Protestant tradition I had been raised in that I was never able to resolve intellectually, well before I had ever considered converting;

• Sola Scriptura: That opens the scripture up to any private interpretation which never made sense to me. Too many times I had heard people “bend” the scriptures to support a position instead of letting the scriptures speak on the subject,
• Once saved, always saved: Really? A person can be redeemed and then become a mass murderer and still be a right relationship with God? And it was so lame that when you asked such a question your intelligence was insulted with a response like, “Well, that would mean they were never saved to start with.” Of course that would mean no one could ever have any assurance with regard to Heaven or Hell.

Nothing unique in my experience as I have already read here some of the same things from others. But these are the things that helped move me along the pathway to conversion.

 

[philv]

I’m a convert and just became Catholic As a strong believer in the protestant world, it took me three years to finally enter. The first year I let people answer for me, which almost pulled me out. The second year was pretty rough but I was still feeling that tug. The third year I was finally searching answers on my own. I read a ton on early Christian history, and read Acts and how there was one unified church back then. Ignatius was pretty powerful too in his words of how the church was suppose to be. I found most of the protestant explanations of the catholic church as lies, and it was just harder to sit back. It was really the history that confirmed my questions. I learned if you want to join something, you better read and reason on your own!

 

[VeiledCatholic]

Here’s my re-conversion story:

Was baptized in the Catholic Church in 1981 (St. Williams, Chicago, IL), made my 1st Communion around 1988-1989 (St. Charles, Port Charlotte, FL), got Confirmed in 1996 (St. Charles, Port Charlotte, FL), left the Church at 16 because I was bored and felt like I was wasting my and God’s time since I wasn’t getting anything out of Mass.
I wasn’t exactly raised in a Catholic Christian home. Sure, mom took me to Mass once a week but it stopped there. There never was any Bible reading, no prayer time, no nothing…

Gave my life to Christ in 2001 during a wonderful service at a Pentecostal church and have been living for Him since then.
2005, got marriage blessed by hubby’s Priest (Holy Family, Lawton, OK) (hubby and I have been married since 2001, in a Protestant church, but in order for him to partake of the Eucharist, he needed our marriage blessed by the Church.)

Was in the Pentecostal Holiness church from 2001-2005 Then the Conservative Mennonite church from 2008-2012 and was also part of the Messianic Judaism movement from 2008 - present at the same time. Imagine that one huh? Mennonite and Messianic at the same time.

Over the past 2 weeks and whilst reading the DeutroCanonical books during my Bible reading time I got so much out of it. So much history…and things we can apply to our lives right now.

In the non Catholic churches it’s constantly shoved down our throats that the Catholic Church added to the Bible these books and they will quote that verse in Revelation about not adding or subtracting from God’s Word.
Whilst reading these books though, it hit me…these books have always been a part of the Bible…it was the Reformation movement that removed them. Well that was clear as the blue sky out my window.
I’ve always felt like something was missing in these non Catholic churches.
I knew what it was. It was the fact that they can only trace their roots back to the Reformation.

I wanted more than that. I was spiritually hungry for more. I was tired of reading an altered Bible that was missing books (KJV).

I wanted to go back to the beginning. Back home to Rome.
So for the past 2 weeks I have been attending Mass just about every day if I can. And I am going to say that I feel complete, whole, when I am there.
I’ve grown immensely in the Scriptures, prayer life, etc since I got saved in 2001 and I have a much better understanding now of the Mass and I must say, I’m in love.
My hubby is a fallen away Catholic. He claimed the title, but never really went to Mass, prayed, read the Bible or anything like that, but since my interest in returning back to Catholicism, he’s turned into a whole new guy just about…lol.
We are currently in the midst of visiting various parishes in the surrounding area.
We have a church just right down the street from our house which I go to in the mornings since it’s within walking distance. But we want to visit other parishes before settling on a home church.
We recently visited a Byzantine Catholic church. Wow, it was beautiful. It left my husband awe struck. We certainly want to go back for a visit there.

And with that said, I need to go to bed so I can get up for Mass bright and early tomorrow morning.

 

[Cathy]

What a fun question to ponder.
I remember the first revelation that the Catholic Church might have some helpful teaching that my Protestant faith lacked. My friend explained that if we are members of the Body of Christ we can unite our sufferings with His, and our sufferings can then be redemptive. That seemed both logical and right. It was a big WOW! for me.

Next, she invited a priest to her house to answer questions from several moms. I asked about Mary and I got FAR more than I expected. First, I found out that some priests know the Bible…REALLY WELL! The priest went all through both the Old and New Testaments explaining Catholic doctrine on Mary. I was blown away. I had no idea before that Mary was in the Old Testament. But of course she’s there right from the beginning (Genesis 3:15, etc., etc., etc.) Intellectually, I couldn’t even imagine an argument against his strong case. But I still couldn’t accept Church teachings and I told him so. He told me to pray about it, and I did. I’m sure he prayed for me, too. Some time in the next week, as I was waking from sleep, I thought about what Father had said about Mary, and I just KNEW it was true. It was a gift. That’s the only explanation I have for my new-found belief. I had no new intellectual information, but I did have the grace to accept the intellectual material I had been given.

The next hurdle was the Eucharist. That one fell away when a close friend whom I trusted was interviewed in a video on Eucharistic miracles, both past and current.
I questioned her about the video and she confirmed it, adding new information.

Scott Hahn’s series on Hebrews convinced me that if I believed what the Church teaches on the Eucharist, I should join the Church. I still hesitated, though. Forty-five years of Protestantism, including a large dose of anti-Catholicism, did not melt away easily. John Paul II provided the last link for me to Holy Mother Church. It was his Letter to Women, dated 1995. Reading this celibate man’s thoughts about the dignity and meaning of womanhood, I felt affirmed as a woman as never before. I knew that could only be from the Holy Spirit. So I said yes to the Holy Father and yes to God about 16 years ago. What a beautiful memory! Thanks for asking.
Cathy

 

[dnicoll]

For me, it was a range of things.

Firstly it was fidelity to the Bible - how could so many different denominations be ‘guided by the Spirit’ to interpret the Bible correctly, and yet teach different things?

Secondly, it was Church History. The more I looked, the more I questioned the accepted Protestant version of the Reformation. Going back to (admittedly English translations of) original documents and trial reports, and Ecumenical Council documents made me question whether it was prejudice or fact that was driving my position.

Thirdly, it was a desire to be consistent in my beliefs. The various theological systems set up by various Protestant authors didn’t (to me) tie up with each other, never mind where the Church had come from. Short of setting up my own Church to ensure it believed exactly what I believed, the only alternative was to say that something else/someone else had authority over me to decide what was correct and what was not. And there was only one place to go once I decided that the Church of Me was not a viable theological position to take.

Fourthly, it was engagement with Catholic Spirituality. Daily Bible Study as a Protestant to me was dry, hard, and often not done. Catholic prayer was to me - because of its engagement of mind, eyes and touch - much easier and identifiable as a spiritual exercise. The Rosary was the starting point for me - a real leap into the life and death and saving nature of Christ’s mission. I have done this daily since before I even approached the local priest and enquired. Rather than feeling prayer a chore, I now feel ‘wrong’ if I don’t get round to it until late!

Fifthly I found that Daily Mass attendance was a real eye opener. The way in which the rhythms of the seasons are reflected, the way in which the Psalms are integral to worship, the way in which God so often spoke to me through the prayers.

Sixthly, I started using the Breviary and prayed two of Lauds/Prime and Vespers/Compline every day as well. I use a range of different versions - the UK version, the ICEL version and the 1962 Latin version depending on my mood.

I found the more I explored, and the more I DID, the more sense Catholicism made.

Enjoy!

 

[bouncebanana]

A strong desire; to please God, to be close to Jesus, and some guiding by the Holy Spirit.

 

[MSSheBear]

What started me intellectually in converting was early Church history. I was raised Protestant and I assumed that the Church added things in the Middle Ages. I still felt pulled toward Catholicism but remained staunchly Protestant. Then several years ago I started looking into how the early Christians worshipped. Oops! They seemed pretty Catholic!

Also I had discovered that I was told at my Protestant churches that I was to interpret the Bible myself and then realized that I couldn’t really. Other people in the church assumed I needed to follow someone else’s interpretation and if I came to another conclusion I was just silly. So if I attended a Bible Study I read a commentary so I would come up with the right answer which of course often was the wrong answer since there are so many interpretations.

I came to realize that Protestantism didn’t make sense. Since I started attending Mass I realized that I had really been missing something!

 

[Koineman]

I’ve been seriously thinking about becoming Catholic and while I still have a few issues with the Church there are many more things I like about it.

I’ve always felt that worship should have dignity about it and many Protestant churches do not. I like the idea of communion every Sunday as well as saying the creeds and such.

This resonates with me. I’m not a convert to Catholicism, having left it about 27 years ago, but I have recently been drawn to Catholic worship because of its solemnity–something often missing in evangelical services, which nowadays often (though not always) seem designed more to appeal to people (usually because of the seeker-sensitive approach) than to worship God. In some churches I’ve even felt like I was sitting in a concert. In the Catholic church, though, it seems that the worship is not meant to entertain but to focus on God–a goal that I appreciate a lot.

So once again I find myself stepping foot in Catholic churches, something I haven’t done in many, many years.

Something else that I really like about Catholic worship is that it is so frequent. In most evangelical churches, there is just the Sunday worship service. Even Sunday evening and Wednesday evening services are rare in Protestant churches nowadays, at least in my experience. In the Catholic churches that I’ve been exploring in my area, however, I’ve noticed that they all have daily masses. I like the idea of frequent communion (even if I won’t receive the Eucharist) and quite frankly cannot understand why so many evangelical churches celebrate such an important sacrament only once a month.

 

[Della]

This resonates with me. I’m not a convert to Catholicism, having left it about 27 years ago, but I have recently been drawn to Catholic worship because of its solemnity–something often missing in evangelical services, which nowadays often (though not always) seem designed more to appeal to people (usually because of the seeker-sensitive approach) than to worship God. In some churches I’ve even felt like I was sitting in a concert. In the Catholic church, though, it seems that the worship is not meant to entertain but to focus on God–a goal that I appreciate a lot.

So once again I find myself stepping foot in Catholic churches, something I haven’t done in many, many years.

Something else that I really like about Catholic worship is that it is so frequent. In most evangelical churches, there is just the Sunday worship service. Even Sunday evening and Wednesday evening services are rare in Protestant churches nowadays, at least in my experience. In the Catholic churches that I’ve been exploring in my area, however, I’ve noticed that they all have daily masses. I like the idea of frequent communion (even if I won’t receive the Eucharist) and quite frankly cannot understand why so many evangelical churches celebrate such an important sacrament only once a month.

I had been Episcopalian before leaving for the Assemblies of God (not my choice, but my mother’s, I was a minor). I was in the AoG for about 20 years and got burned out on trying to “get something from the Lord”, as it was put at the time. It’s so true that that kind of service does little more than pander to people’s desires. In a liturgical setting we’re actually freer because we don’t have to make it up as we go along, but have a biblically-based and ancient form that allows us to listen instead of telling God what we think he should be doing for us.

Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of lovely Christian people in Evangelical and Pentecostal communities, but they lack the most essential thing for worship–sacrifice. The Bible gives us example after example that there is no true worship “in spirit” or anything else without sacrifice. In the Church we offer the one sacrifice of Christ to the Father brought present to us by the Holy Spirit in the words of consecration. That is what liturgy is really all about and why it is right and just for us to use it to worship God. It’s what drew me back to the Epsicopal Church and led me, ultimately to the Catholic Church which retains all the promises of Christ to his Church.

 

[Koineman]

Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of lovely Christian people in Evangelical and Pentecostal communities, but they lack the most essential thing for worship–sacrifice. The Bible gives us example after example that there is no true worship “in spirit” or anything else without sacrifice. In the Church we offer the one sacrifice of Christ to the Father brought present to us by the Holy Spirit in the words of consecration. That is what liturgy is really all about and why it is right and just for us to use it to worship God. It’s what drew me back to the Epsicopal Church and led me, ultimately to the Catholic Church which retains all the promises of Christ to his Church.

Interesting insight about the need for sacrifice in worship. I think you’re right. I think when people start to depart from that thinking, they turn inward, using the worship as a means to please themselves instead of giving up something for God. The liturgical worship really counteracts that self-centered tendency because it keeps you focused on God.